Page 44 of I'm Not Your Pet

Seeing his grouchy expression sent a thrill through me as I shut the door behind me and approached. He glanced at my empty limbs, no food to occupy my arms, and the folds of his frown multiplied. It was a comical expression. Downright adorable. There was a nanobot on the bed beside him. They couldn’t climb soft surfaces, so it was obvious that he’d brought it up there. Why? I had no idea.

His little thighs spread, the clothing he wore—Sahrk childrens’ clothing, because I’d had nothing else that would fit him on board—was loose. It draped over his frame, somehow making him appear even tinier than he already was.

My sweet little beast abandoned his nanobot on the table beside the bed and rose to his bare feet.

“Fuhd?” he asked, because he was so goddamn clever he’d already figured out something was different, without me even having to open my mouth at all. We were still space-borne after all, and I hadn’t let him out of the rooms before while we were mid-flight.

Pride lit me up from the inside out.

I had not known what it meant to be alive until the day I met Huu-goh—I realized that now. All my feelings before had been dull. Looking at the world through his eyes made it seem like a brighter, more wonderful place. I noticed things I never had—I appreciated things I’d always taken for granted. My world had been gray before I met him, and now it was technicolor.

And though Huu-goh’s spots were tiny and brown, and the peachy surface of his skin would never be as vivid as my own, he managed to be the most vibrant person in the entire universe.

He made me want to be a better, stronger man.

Because if someone sotinycould be as hardy as he was, then perhaps someone of my size could stand to have a little extra courage.

I unclipped his leash from my belt as I approached him and Huu-goh scowled at me. It was an adorable face. So full of ire it made my blood thrum as I attached the leash to his collar, careful not to nick him with my claws.

My limbs felt icy and it took every ounce of control I had not to forgo this plan entirely and keep him locked up where he was safe.

Eventually, when I was certain that he wouldn’t touch something that could accidentally hurt him, or get lost—because of his endless curiosity—I’d unclip the lead. Until then, this was as far as my comfort zone would allow me to go.

I knew Huu-goh couldn’t understand me, but I tried to soothe him anyway, hoping my tone was enough to get the feeling across. “It is only for now, precious one,” I promised him, stroking over the now connected clasp on his collar. “There are dangerous things aboard, and I fear you would touch something that could harm you.” That was true, but because it wasn’t the whole truth, I added on. “I cannot lose you. I only just found you.”

Huu-goh was not soothed.

He glared at the leash in my hand like it had personally attacked him.

It was only when I brought him to the door and reached for the keypad that he relaxed. As I typed in the code, Huu-goh was silent beside me, watching my every move. Like hewas processing what was happening—that, or memorizing the password to the door.

The second thought made my eyes crease in amusement.

Who was I kidding?

No doubt my mate was clever enough he already knew it.

It was simply his loyalty that kept him inside these rooms.

When I gestured for him to go first—a sign of trust, because I knew the leash would be a hard pill for him to swallow—Huu-goh wavered. For a beat he stared out at the empty hallway, his bare feet stuck firmly to the floor.

My hearts thumped and thumped and thumped.

“I cann goh outsiide?” he asked. There was something wary about the way he stood, like he was worried he was misunderstanding the situation and didn’t want to be punished. I had never raised a hand to him, or even truly admonished him—so I knew the behavior stemmed from before we’d met.

A thought that made my incredibly angry.

I wanted to bite the heads off all of the people who had conditioned him to expect such things.

“Yesh,” I agreed in his own language, making sure to keep my own tone soft. I didn’t know what “cann” or “outsiide” were, but I could connect the dots. Huu-goh watched me, then the doorway, then me again, debating with himself.

“Reelly?” he asked, like he did not believe me.

Again, I filled in the blanks.

“Reelly,” I repeated in his tongue, even though I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure I knew what he’d just said.

The cloudiness of his expression faded. Huu-goh stood straighter, his brown eyes bright. And then he did the most endearing—wonderful thing. He began to dance.

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